Friday, February 12, 2016

The value of viewfinders

It's hard to explain. More than sometimes, but less than often, I can spend a day covering paper with color. It's fun, but it's also frustrating, because I don't have any final products that are good. They're just kinda' ... colorful.

Like this group... I look at them and think, and the point would be?

At times like this, I pull out some of my favorite tools - my viewfinders.

These hand cut gems are worth their weight in gold. They can be tilted or moved vertically and horizontally around the questionable piece of art to block out distracting extras and allow the eye to focus on only what shows through the window. This allows me to find usable colors, shapes or objects in an otherwise throw-away piece of work.

So I worked over this...

and this...

and sent both pieces to the Photoshop chopping block.

This is the final result... a blending of the two pieces. The pear was cropped and flipped. The "t" art yielded the colors on the right.

I added a few more embellishments to each printed copy - stamped handmade paper strips, marks made with various paints and inks - just to make each card front unique. (A tip of the hat to Seth Apter who taught me that enough is never enough. There are always more little marks to be added.) Each of the final two pictures were taken under different lighting. Hence the change in colors.

I'm happy. I love taking the not-so-great and making them usable. Practical does have its place in life after all.